This invention relates to body protective garments and more particularly to protective garments which will protect a body from weapons which inflict stab or ballistic wounds.
Various stab resistant articles or garments have been worn by prison corrections officers and other types of security, military or law enforcement personnel. Such stab resistant articles are designed to prevent bodily penetration as a result of stabbing or slashing from sharp objects or weapons. Unfortunately, these protective articles were generally rigid shields which were externally worn and were constructed of heavy, bulky and inflexible metal components such as titanium or other extremely hard metal alloys. The metallic composition of these cumbersome external vest shields must be of sufficient thickness, rigidity and strength to stop impacts imparted by an attacker, such as a prison inmate, using a sharp knife, pick, shank or the like.
Disadvantageously, the bulk and rigidity of such metallic vest garments rendered it uncomfortable to wear. Furthermore, it is rather difficult for the wearer of a rigid vest such as a corrections officer to move and maneuver around quickly and easily which is important especially if the wearer is being attacked. The stiffness of these externally worn body shield vests are uncomfortable to wear in a sitting position since the lower edges often press firmly against the stomach, hip and side areas of the wearer, as well as, the top of the shield placing pressure on the wearer""s throat and chin areas. Moreover, the weight of such known metallic shields caused significant fatigue to the security personnel wearer over the time for the wearer""s working shift. Accordingly, such known puncture resistant articles often prove to be ineffective predominantly due to the fact that the potential wearer prefers not to wear the bulky torso shield rather than tolerating its discomfort.
Another, and perhaps a more significant problem with such rigid metallic alloy puncture resistant vests is that they were not concealable. These known cumbersome shield vests were almost exclusively externally worn and even if they were not worn externally, the bulky nature of such articles make it obvious to a would be attacker that the wearer (corrections officer, etc.) is wearing a protective puncture or stab resistant metallic shield vest. Since the worn vest article cannot be concealed the potential attacker is more prone to stab or slash at a vital area away from the vest such as the lower abdomen, groin, neck or head area. Not only is any element of surprise on the part of the wearer removed by the unconcealed nature of such cumbersome rigid vests, it is highly impractical if not impossible for the undercover personnel to wear such bulky items.
However, significant advancements have been made to construct wearable and concealable soft body armor that protects the wearer from puncture wounds such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,470 assigned to Second Chance Body Armor, Inc. These puncture resistant garments were intended for that purpose and carried multiple layers of a high density weave or pick and end counts.
Further advancements have been recently made in developing bi-component ballistic and stab resistant wearable and concealable garments. These developments by Second Chance Body Armor, Inc. are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,470. The bi-component garment contains a woven puncture resistant panel constructed of multiple plies of relatively high density woven fabric used in conjunction with a ballistic resistant panel which was constructed of either multiple plies of woven fabric of a relatively lower density weave or composite materials. This versatile bi-component garment provides the wearer with puncture and ballistic resistance protection and concealability along with a level of comfort afforded that construction.